BROOKLYN — A local fan-favorite NASCAR driver hit another milestone at Michigan International Speedway on Sunday.

The Carfax 400 was Bill Elliott's 61st race at MIS, moving him past
Ricky Rudd for the most NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts at the track.
His 400-mile run Sunday also gives him 22,424 miles completed at MIS and
keeps him in the lead for most laps run there by any series driver.

Elliott has been considered the Jackson area's hometown driver
since the late 1970s when, as a struggling new driver, he struck up a
friendship with Brooklyn businessman Jim Knutson.

The admiration grew
when he teamed with the late Harry Melling, also a Jackson businessman,
in 1981 and went on to become the most dominant driver at MIS in the
1980s.

Elliott racked up seven victories from 1982 to '89, including four in a row when he swept both the 1985 and 1986 seasons.

Elliott, who currently drives for Wood Brothers Racing, started Sunday's race from the 30th spot and finished 22nd.

BIGGEST GAINERS

Tony Stewart's sixth-place finish in the Carfax 400 moved him up
four spots to fourth in the Sprint Cup points, making him Sunday's
biggest gainer in the Chase to the series championship.

Second-place finisher Denny Hamlin gained back the three spots he
lost at Watkins Glen the week before to land in third place. Carl
Edwards moved up two spots to sixth place with his third-place finish.

Clint Bowyer took over the 12th and final place in the Chase with a
13th-place finish, ousting Mark Martin from the spot. Martin struggled
after hitting the back of Scott Speed's car early in the race and
finished 28th.

"The car was really fast on our last run, but it took us the whole
race to fix up my mistake," Martin said. "I was real aggressive early in
the race and got us into trouble. We're going to keep racing hard like
we did today and try not to have any more scrapes. We're going to go
down swinging."

BIGGEST LOSERS

Kurt Busch, fourth in the points going into the Carfax 400, dropped
six spots to 10th after the engine in his Dodge blew up on lap 30,
giving him a 40th-place finish.

"It was a big catastrophic motor failure," he said. "There was no
warning at all. We just needed a nice, smooth run today and nothing big
to happen. It's unfortunate."

Busch, who has had only two top-10 finishes in the past eight
starts, said while he's disappointed, he's not worried about dropping
out of the top 12 in points.

"We've got some good tracks coming up: Bristol, Atlanta and
Richmond," he said. "We'll be fine, but it's not nice when you have
something like this happen."

Jeff Burton dropped from third in the points to seventh with his 24th-place finish.

WOOD BROTHERS HONORED

Wood Brothers Racing was honored Sunday for its 60-year
participation in NASCAR with a plaque on MIS' pit wall of fame on the
track near Victory Circle.

"I remember watching these guys as a little kid," track president
Roger Curtis said. "It's an honor and a privilege to be able to do this
at MIS for you guys."

The Wood brothers have won 11 races for Ford at MIS, including the
track's first Cup race there in June 1969 when Cale Yarborough, driving a
Mercury at the time, beat David Pearson by five seconds after LeRoy
Yarbrough spun out on the final lap.

Dale Jarrett also recorded his first NASCAR Cup win for Wood
Brothers in the 1991 Champion Spark Plug 400 by beating Davey Allison by
just 8 inches.

Wood Brothers Racing was started by Glen Wood, who was joined by
brother Leonard Wood. Glen Wood's sons, Len and Eddie, currently lead
the team.

POSTRACE SPAT

Ryan Newman and Joey Logano tangled on the track, then had to be separated after the race.

Logano's car got loose and tapped the left rear fender of Newman's
car, causing Newman to spin out with 53 laps remaining. Newman
confronted Logano after the race, but NASCAR officials stepped in before
the situation escalated.

"He races me way too hard, he races everybody too hard," Logano said. "I'm not the only one that complains about it every week."

Logano said he was trying to keep his car under control and thought Newman should have given him more room.

"I'm down there just hanging on and hanging on," Logano said. "I
saved it three times before I'm like, 'I can't save this one, he should
have given me room by now.' I will have to call and talk to him about it
because I know I'm not the only one that complains about it, but I
don't know why he races everyone so hard. I hear it from too many
people."